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Jacksonville Jaguars Have Serious Problems Dropping the Ball

January 29th, 2012 at 4:50 PM By Michael Hall

Yes, I know this was obvious problem throughout the year, but I have stats to back it up. Since the season ended, I decided to look at every game throughout the year, and counted every drop. By drop, I mean that the receiver had a fair chance at catching the ball in-bounds with both hands and couldn't come up with it. For example, Marcedes Lewis slipping in the endzone during the Bucs game does not count, Greg Jones' one-handed drop in the endzone in the Ravens game doesn't count, and Jason Hill's much-maligned drop at the end of the Browns game doesn't count either since Joe Haden had a vice grip on his arm.

All in all, there were 40 drops by the Jaguars running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends, which is a frighteningly high number.

As it turns out, Marcedes Lewis had an obscene number of drops, which beyond disappointing since Gabbert was supposed to rely on him as a receiving target. Mike Thomas and Jarett Dillard had their fair share of drops as well.

Taking the drops into account, Blaine Gabbert's stats could end up looking a lot better than they did. I'm going to show the completions, attempts, and percentage of Gabbert for the season and then I'm going to include the 40 drops as well as the amount for 20 (which is probably a normal number for a team).

Stats/Drop amounts

40 Drops

20 Drops

Passing Completions

210

230

Passing Attempts

413

413

Completion Percentage

50.8

55.6

Completion Percentage Rank

32nd

28th

With half of the drops, Gabbert's stats look a lot more respectable. Does that completely excuse Gabbert's poor season? No. His accuracy and pocket presence must improve if he wants to become great QB in this league. However, the drops are not something that can just be ignored and it must be improved upon going into the 2012 season.